1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fencing material, and more particularly to composite boards made from recycled lumber used as modular units for fencing.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Cement masonry fence walls, made from prefabricated interlocking modules, existed at least as early as 1970. U.S. Pat. No. 3,512,759 discloses one such design. Cement module walls can be erected with minimal labor and equipment, and can be readily dismantled and reconstructed. The cement modules must be fabricated specifically for the purpose of creating such an interlocking wall, and thus can not be made from previously used or recycled materials. Additionally, cement is generally considered to be less aesthetically pleasing than natural materials such as wood.
The basket weave fence disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,652,060 is constructed from pieces of wood veneer that have been rejected from use as plywood panels due to defects or irregular shapes. Although the rejected pieces of wood veneer are waste or scrap material, the material is new lumber--it has not been used in construction. Although veneer boards have improved weather and aging characteristics due to the peeling of the log done during veneer production, they do not have the same beneficial characteristics of wood that has actually undergone aging in natural weather conditions
Other types of modular fence construction are comprised of C-channel boards. U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,692 shows how a multiple of C-channel boards can be used for both fence rails and fence posts. The rails interlock with the posts to form the fence. In this design, as in the patents previously discussed, the rails and posts must be made specifically for this application and thus are made from new lumber or other materials. Additionally, this design requires that the rails and posts be one continuous length of material, thereby eliminating the possibility of using shorter pieces of material normally associated with scrap lumber or recycled lumber.